Washing-machine



longitudinal section.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICEe JAMES ELMORE RATCLIFF, OF DAXVSON,ILLINOIS.

WASHING-MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No.460,446, dated September29, 1891.

Application filed December 8, 1890. Serial No. 373.996. (ModeL) To allwhom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES ELMORE RAT- CLIFF, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Dawson, county of Sangamon, State of Illinois, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in VVashing-D/Iachines; andI do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription of the invention, referencebeinghadto the accompanyingdrawings, and to the figures of reference marked thereon, which formpart of this specification.

My invention has relation to washing-machines; and it consists in theimproved construction, arrangement, and combination of parts hereinafterfully described, and afterward specifically pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure lis a top plan View of the machine.Fig. 2 is a Fig. 3 is an end view with the end of the box removed andthe legs broken off. Fig, 4 is a side elevation with the interior partsattached to the box and the frames, outlines in dotted lines. I

Like numerals of reference indicate the same parts wherever they occurin the various figures of the dra'wings.

Referring to the drawings by numerals, 1 1 1 1 indicate the legs whichsupport a box 2, rectangular in shape and composed of a bottom 3, sides4 5, and ends 6 6. This box answers the purpose of a tub, and theoperative mechanism is located within it. A frame 7, consisting of sidebars 8 8, end bar 9, and a connecting-board 10, supports tworollersviz., a smooth roller 11, journaled in the side bars 8 beyond oneend of the board 10, and a longitudinally-grooved roller 12, journaledin the sides beyond the other end of the board 10. These two rollers 11and 12 are each provided with annular grooves 13, in which work cord orrope belts 14, carrying loops 15, by means of which the clothes to bewashed are carried around these rollers and the board 10. Hinged to theframe 7 at 16 is another frame 17, which carries alongitudinally-grooved roll 18, journaled in the side bars 19 20, saidside bars being secured together by an end bar 21, the roller 18 beinglocatedimmediately above the roller 12 in frame 7 and the' end bar 21over the end bar 9 of frame 7. The rollers 18 and 12 are normallyheld incontact by springs 22, secured to the end bars 21 and 9 by means ofstaples 23 straddling the wir-es of the end coils of said springs anddriven into the end bars 2l and 9. The two 'frames are elevated abovethe bottom 3 of the box 2 by means of legs 24, projecting downward fromframe 7 at one end, and blocks 25, secured to the inside of the sides ofthe box 2 near the other end. The journals 26 of roller 12 projectthrough slots 27 in the sides 4 and 5 of box 2, and a crank 28 issecured at one end, bymeans of which the roller may be rotated. Blocks29 are secured outside the frame 7, which project upward just inside theslots 27 to prevent water splashingout through said slots. These blocksrest on blocks 25 on the sides of the box, as before described. Theframe 7 has its sides made in two parts, which are secured together byscrews 30, whereby they may be adjusted with relation to each other,thus lengthening and shortening the frame to keep the cord-belts taut.

Attached to the inside of the sides of the box are turn-buttons 31,which serve to lock the frame down at one end, while the other end isheld down by means of a bar or long turn-button 32, pivoted to the underside of end bar 9 of frame 7, which is shown turned aside, so as to beinoperative, in dotted lines in Figs. l and 2, and in Fig. 3 inoperative position, with its ends engaging under blocks 33, secured tothe inside of the sides of the box.

The operation of my invention may be described as follows: A sufiicientquantity of suds or soapy water having been placed in the box, thearticles to be washed are secured in the loops 15 of the cord-bolts 14.The roller 12 is then rotated by means of the crank, causing theclothing to be carried over board 10, through between the corrugatedrolls 12 and 18, back under board 10, through the water up around roll11, and again over board 10, and so on until they are thoroughlycleansed. The rolls, as before stated, are yieldingly held toward eachother by the springs and will give to suit the thickness of material topass through. The frames are held securely in the box, as described, butmay be removed at will by simply disengaging the turn-buttons.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is-

IOO

l. In combination, a frane having side bars and a conneeting-board, aroller j onrnaled in the side bars at the ends of the eonnectingboardand connected by belts which encircle the conneeting-board, a secondfrane pivoted to the first at one end and having a roller journaled inits side bars in position to engage the roller below it, and springsconnecting and normally drawing the frames and rolls toward each other,as set t'orth.

2. In combination, the iframe carrying rollers and provided with legs24:, blocks 29, and pivoted bar 32, with the box 2, having turnbuttons31, blocks 25, and blocks 33, the legs 2& scrving to elevate the franeabove the botton of the box, the blocks 29 resting on blocks 25 for thesame purpose, and the turn-buttons and blocks serving to lock the framein position in the box, as set forth.

In oonbination, the frane 7, having side bars S, end bar 9, andconnecting-bar 10, the

rollers 11 and 12, journaled in side bars 8 at the ends of the board 10and connected by belts, the frame 17, hinged to frame 7 at 16 andprovided with end bar 21, the roller 18, journaled in franie 17 overroller 12, and the springs 22, serving to draw the frames toward eachother, as set t'orth.

4. In combination with the pivoted 'frames 7 and 17, carrying rollers 12and 18, one below the other, the lower one having its ;journal extended,the box having slots 27, through which the journals pass, and the blocks20, Secured to the outside of the lower frame 7 and projecting upwardbetween the rolls and the slots 27 to prevent the escape of Waterthrough said slots, as set fol-th.

JAMES ELMORE RATCLTI F.

\Vitnesses:

A. Yooon, JOSEPH B. PERKINS, Jr.

